VIRUS

So what was He thinking as He created
The AIDS virus? First, of course,
Of that benign purpose known to Him only
In the scansion of creation - to which it may
Revert in the world to come. But also of the ways
In which its terrors would apply in the time
Of the felled species (the contorting
Virus itself morally unfallen), His skill
Would make it the scalpel to sever
Saints from their sins; the knife to slash
Sinners from their sins - each particular
In the operation required. Grace, ready for all,
Would inject after the virus for many;
For many the death would expel from burgeoning sin.